Line of Scrimmage: A Secret Baby Sports Romance (Pass To Win Book 2)

by Roxy Sinclaire

  “The weekend? Did you like it?” Her eyes had a mysterious glint.

  “The best weekend I’ve ever had if you ask me,” I replied and Mia and Kayla began applauding.

  Mia tuned in. “Really? We should spend more weekends like this.”

  “Do you want us to? Really?” I asked bewildered. “You like my company?”

  “Of course. You’re the best!”

  The three of us chuckled.

  Kayla said through laughs. “Well done, Mia. You ditched your own mother for the big guy, huh?”

  Mia was quick to defend herself. “No. It’s not like that, mommy. You’re one thing and he is another. He knows things you don’t and you know things he doesn’t. That’s why I like to be with the both of you.”

  My heart melted in my chest. I stopped giving myself a hard time about turning into an emotional man. I knew that it was because of the love I had for Mia and Kayla. I loved every single bit of it and I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.

  This time Mia chose the pop playlist filled with current songs and some older ones. But they were all from the 2000s onwards. A catchy song started playing as we left the Vaughn’s neighborhood. The day was already beginning to wear off. The shadows grew longer with each minute. Strange colors appeared in the sky, mixing with each other and creating a marvelous masterpiece. Hundreds of shades of red, yellow and orange intertwined. The sun was giving its place to the moon.

  Kayla explained to me about her job. She told me where she was working and what she did. We were laughing about comic situations and anecdotes in the firm. We had eight years to catch up on, so it was time to start. In return I told her about my transfers and the games.

  “My manager is Brent. He’s the best in the business, you know,” I said.

  “Oh, you have a manager? You really did become a big fish. Just like you said you would.” She smiled. “I don’t doubt that he’s the best. After all, the best deserves the best.”

  “I said that myself.” I chuckled.

  Kayla burst out laughing. “Babe,” she whispered so that Mia wouldn’t hear. It had become our thing. Speaking in low voices and hiding so that Mia wouldn’t find out anything.

  Night slowly settled in. And as if summoned by it, Mia lowered her head and let out a sigh of relief. She was asleep. My sweet girl.

  The stars were out in millions and shining above our heads. I turned on the headlights, resuming our journey. Everything was going exactly like I had wanted. We were having an amazing family time. I put my right hand on the inside of Kayla’s thigh and she placed hers above mine. Her touch on my skin had always been comforting.

  “Thank you for doing this,” Kayla whispered.

  “No prob, babe. You know that I’d do anything for the two of you,” I replied also in a low voice.

  “Yeah, I know. But I felt like I should tell you that. You’re really trying. You’re giving your all for us. I don’t know how I can ever repay you,” she said.

  “Oh, stop it please. You’re exaggerating. I don’t want to hear that ever again. You repay me every single moment.”

  An ear-to-ear grin appeared on her face. “And how is that, my gorgeous babe?”

  “Wow! I like that,” I said and leaned in to kiss her. Her lips tasted like cherry. Yummy, baby! “You repay me by letting me see you every day.”

  “Is that it?” Kayla giggled.

  “Yeah. Your smile is all I need to go about my day.”

  “I didn’t know you were so romantic.” Kayla said and this time she was the one that leaned in to kiss my lips.

  “Just speaking the truth here,” I said. “And plus there’s Mia. You two are the most precious things in my life. I couldn’t bear to lose you.”

  “Don’t… Don’t say that,” Kayla said a bit more serious. “We’ll always be with you. Forever and ever. Remember that.”

  “I will,” I spoke and winked at her.

  “About that… I mean the paternity test.”

  An alarm grew inside me. What was she going to tell me? “Yeah? What about it?”

  “I think we can do it tomorrow. If you’d like, I mean.”

  A warm wave of feelings washed over me. Great news after great news. They were all piling up inside me. I thought I would burst from happiness and joy. Yay, yay, hooray! “Sure, sure. Yeah. Works for me. Brilliant,” I said quickly.

  Kayla giggled at that. “Okay. Sorry for not bringing that up earlier.”

  “You have nothing to apologize for. It’s all right.” I squeezed her hand. It became our thing. A sign of gratitude and that everything was going to be fine. Okay. “If it turns out that I’m not her father…”

  Kayla interrupted me. “Let’s not jump to conclusions. Yes. The chances are like fifty-fifty. But still. I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Please, babe. Just let me finish. If the test proves that I’m not her father, don’t exclude me from her life.”

  “That’s not even an option, Sean. Don’t worry.” She smiled. Her eyes did too. I saw that they were teary. These things were hard. And that was putting it mildly. The situation we found ourselves in was the stuff of movies. I guessed that truth was indeed stranger than fiction.

  “Thanks for that. I really like her and I’ve kind of bonded with her. She is an exceptional girl. I’ve realized my mistakes thanks to her. She changed me. Like I never thought I could be changed. It’s marvelous.”

  “What do you mean?” Kayla turned in her seat to face me. Her eyes were not blinking.

  “Well, spending time with her made me understand that what I was doing wasn’t the right thing. Because of the football and Brent and my whole life, I returned to an empty home. A cold apartment with no one to welcome me or hug me or kiss me. I was lonely, you know. And I didn’t even know it. It sucked.” I was opening my soul to her. My deepest fears and thoughts sprung to the surface. And it was liberating. I wasn’t aware of all those grim emotions inside of me.

  Silence. Kayla rubbed her eyes, hiding from me. She didn’t want me to see her emotional. I let her have the privacy.

  “I had no idea… about this,” she said and sniffed.

  “Oh,” I began and fondled her hair.

  “No, it’s fine. Just some dust,” she said and laughed nervously. “You’re more than welcome in Mia’s life. In our lives. You know, I haven’t told this to anyone. But Mia wasn’t like this. Before you came she was in herself, she wasn’t that talkative and I feared for her. How was she going to live like this, introverted and alone? I sensed the lack of a father figure in her growing up. You know, kids want to have both parents. I was proved that the single parent thing doesn’t work. Not quite.”

  “I understand,” I said.

  “And, hey, you came then. Out of nowhere. It was like God had sent you.” She chuckled. “She’s livelier now. Energetic and enthusiastic. For once in her life she has everything. She has two parental figures.”

  Perhaps now was my moment for crying. I felt my eyes wet. However, I managed to swallow back the tears. Bye-bye, playboy Sean and welcome, family-guy Sean! I liked the transition. I was looking forward to it. Honestly loving it.

  “That’s… I have nothing to say. I’ve got no words. Congrats, babe. You made the master of interviews and the biggest star on the magazine covers speechless.”

  We both chuckled, easing the atmosphere.

  “Woohoo. Hashtag, proud,” Kayla said and we laughed some more. “Anyway, you haven’t met the nanny. Danielle. While you’re in the city you might spend some time with her and Mia. Mia likes it when she’s with her.”

  “Okay. I’ll do anything Mia likes to do,” I replied and smiled.

  I dropped my two girls off in the dead of night. It was around one in the morning. After kissing Mia on the forehead and hugging Kayla, I headed home. We couldn’t kiss in front of Mia. Unfortunately. So a peck on the forehead was enough for the night. But it wasn’t. I felt like a youngster.

  Yawning, I entered my apartment that
I rented so I could be close to Kayla and Mia without having to stay in hotels, turned on the lights and took off my coat. After that I plopped on the sofa and sat like that. Not moving. On the other hand, my mind was insanely loud. I was involuntarily reliving the trip. Mia’s happy face. Kayla’s kisses. Her naked body. Our laughs in the car. It was spectacular. I was already looking forward to organizing our next road trip.

  I realized that everything was silent. And that didn’t happen with me. Phones were always ringing, buzzing, screaming or who knew what else. But now nothing happened. It hit me that I had turned it off not to be disturbed. I had everything and everyone I cared about with me, so no phones were needed. Nope.

  Sighing in resignation, because I had to go back to that life, I turned on my phone. There were hundreds of notifications and a lot of them were emails. Brent. He had gone mad. Oh, buddy, buddy. I was feeling sorry for him. I laughed at that.

  “What the heck do you want now?” I said aloud and clicked on the emails one by one. Everything I could expect from him. Nothing more. Nothing less.

  He had booked me for hundreds of promotions and events. Parties, club openings, movie premieres, company birthdays… I lost track of them halfway through.

  Without thinking I clicked on the compose button and wrote to Brent.

  Yes. All that busy lifestyle of a celebrity was captivating. But not anymore. Sorry. I apologized to him. There was another priority in my life. She was small and kind and gentle and needed a father badly. I needed a cute little creature like her as well in my life. And besides we had eight years to catch up on. Eight entire freaking years. I set my mind on making up for all those years of solitude. And a few events could go on without me.

  Wow, Sean, you really had changed.

  17

  Kayla

  We were sitting in a fancy restaurant my boss had picked. We had an important business meeting and everything had to be under control. His words, not mine.

  “When are they coming?” I asked him nervously. My heart was beating loudly in my chest as if before a test or something. Breathe in, breathe out, Kayla. Everything was going to be all right. But was it?

  “Any minute now. I don’t know what’s taking them so long,” he replied all puffed and red in the face. He was a short and plump man, but with a kind heart. At least I thought so. He always knew to notice talent and hard work. That was why I was sitting right here now next to him. He was in his late fifties. Maybe in his sixties, but he said in the late fifties. Fifties, it was, then.

  To calm my nerves, I looked around. The walls were painted dark red bringing elegance to the space. There were lights placed on every table, in every corner. And amazing pictures by worldwide famous artists decorated the walls. Everything was right. It screamed business meetings. My eyes darted to the other tables and realized that more than half of the guests were company officials looking to strike some deals.

  My boss nervously looked at his watch, tapping his foot. He was making me even more nervous. Thankfully, he stopped. Standing up, he headed for the door to meet the partners. I waited patiently in my place, staring down at my fingernails. Rehearsing in my mind the proposal and everything I had prepared the previous day, I felt again like I had before the interview with the dean. I chuckled into myself.

  Then I looked up and saw him.

  James Clarke.

  The blond Clark Kent.

  The guy I had a one night stand with at the university mixer. In the bathroom.

  WHAT THE FUCK?

  Hundreds of alarms and red flags rose inside me. My first instinct was to stand up and run. As fast as I could, as far as I could get. But that wasn’t really professional, right? What was he doing here? Oh my God! I couldn’t believe it. I was again in the same room as that bastard. The son of a bitch! A moron! I bit my tongue not to say all those things to him.

  Instead I politely extended my hand and he shook it. Then he brought it to his lips and kissed it. Ugh! God! Gross! I had to go to the bathroom now and wash it. What did I do wrong to be punished like this?

  I greeted all the other people that came with him. We all sat down.

  Awkward pause.

  I caught a glimpse of James. He was looking at me lustily. He licked his lips when he saw me watching him. What a creep! His hair had receded, but his glasses stayed the same. I still couldn’t believe that he was sitting opposite of me.

  Then it hit me. He might be Mia’s father. I shuddered at the thought.

  I desperately tried to console myself. Perhaps something happened and he hadn’t called me. He had lost my number? A car ran him over? A death in the family? He also might have changed. He might be a new person now.

  My boss’s words pulled me back into reality. “So, welcome, dear partners.” They all nodded. “As you certainly know by now, we have a proposal for you.”

  “Yes,” James spoke and I hopped from my seat. “We’re very much anticipating what you are going to offer.”

  “I’m glad that both parties are interested.” My boss smiled and I did too. Mine was a nervous smile that said “I want to get out of here as quickly as I possibly can”.

  My boss’s eyes were nailed on me as I immediately understood that it was my turn to make the proposal and present the project. I cleared my throat. James was still gazing at me. His index finger was close to his lips in a perverted expression.

  I took my mind off of him and began, “Ladies and gentlemen, our firm has come up with a spectacular plan for a project. However, we need your help.”

  “Please explain,” James interrupted me. “What do you mean by spectacular? How can we help you?”

  I swallowed. “The statistics say that more than half of the women suffering from domestic violence can’t pay for any legal advice or help. We’ll end that.”

  “And where do we come in?” A sneer distorted his face. At the end of this awful dinner I was surely going to smack him in the face. The man was getting on my nerves.

  “There’re a lot of victims we try to help. We can’t do it alone. It would be nice if you joined us with money as well as additional lawyers. Our law firm can’t include every lawyer we have in this project, you see,” I said and sighed.

  My boss took it from there. The focus of the conversation shifted from me to my boss. I finally relaxed.

  But James wasn’t paying attention. His look was mischievous and I started to panic. It seemed to me as if his eyes were undressing me. What the hell was running through his mind? What a psycho!

  During the course of the discussion I found out that James played a huge role in all of this. A leading one, as a matter of fact. I couldn’t believe that it was him that our firm was supposed to persuade. How the tables had turned.

  “How long will this last, sir?” A woman opposite my boss asked him. “If we were to accept, and it’s a big if, how many lawyers are you going to need?”

  My boss turned to me and then to his papers before replying.

  Then I sensed a hand on my knee. I jerked. James was touching me under the table. His hand was stone cold. I froze completely. But not for long. My heart was beating fast as a tiny voice whispered in my head. Go to the bathroom. Escape this mental idiot.

  Deciding to agree with the voice, I said, “Excuse me. I have to go to the restroom.”

  I stood up when my boss caught my hand. “Miss Vaughn, is everything okay? You look a little pale.” His voice was barely audible even to me.

  “I’m fine, thank you. Please continue with the discussion,” I whispered back and headed for the women’s restroom. I exhaled when I opened the door and closed it behind me. I was going to explode in three… two… one… Boom! Cold water was running from the faucet as I splashed three handfuls on my face. This wasn’t happening… This wasn’t happening… This wasn’t happening.

  I had to think of something. I had to get away. Screw the project and screw the deal and screw my boss. My life was at stake here. I realized right then that the only way this was going to end
was badly. And every single option was worse.

  Water was running down my face. My hair was damp and so was my shirt. I didn’t give a shit.

  In that moment someone barged in and locked the door before I even understood what was happening. James was in the restroom. And I was alone. Completely alone. Like a sheep and a wolf.

  His eyes were red and there was a maniacal glint in his eyes. “Kayla,” he said and came towards me.

  “What are you doing? Get away from me,” I screamed in his face.

  But he didn’t give up. He was approaching me. Closer and closer. “Kayla, I never forgot you. Kayla, I want you. You turn me on. Your touch on my skin. Your body. Ah…”

  “Stop it,” I shouted and put my hands before me as the only method of protection. “What happened long ago is gone. It was eight years ago. Get over it.”

  “I can’t Kayla. I want you now,” he replied and now he was breathing on me.

  “It was just a fling. A mistake. And believe me one that I would undo if only I could.” I spat into his face. My saliva oozed down his nose and his lips.

  “You bitch,” he yelled and grabbed me.

  He forced himself on me, kissing me with the strength of an animal. I started screaming, but I couldn’t do anything against his grip. His hands were touching my breasts and were going lower. My voice reached the highest octave. I tried to push him and scratch him. I could badly injure him, for all I cared. The son of a bitch deserved it. His claws were strong, hurting me. But I wasn’t giving in.

  “Don’t resist me. If you do, you can forget about the deal. Without my approval, the deal won’t get through. And you don’t want that to happen, do you? Your future and career depend on me. Accept it, Kayla. You’ll only get yourself fired and I’ll make sure no one hires you. Be mine and that’s it.” He increased his voice.

  “You imbecile! I have a daughter.” Tears were accumulating in my eyes. My heart was beating like crazy, fueled by adrenaline. “And you might be her father,” I yelled. I didn’t know why I said it. I just did. It rolled off my tongue. A real bombshell.